Travelling Through the Ages
by Azaquazaax
Summary: a random snippet


Laura wrung her hands about her, flustered. She frantically rushed about the dorm flipping over everything, looking through every nook and cranny. She let out a little scream of pure frustration, and was close to tears.

Katherine, Laura's best friend, sauntered into the room dreamily, before taking in the cluttered state of their Camp Christine dorm.

"What happened? Lost something?" she inquired.

Laura replied exasperatedly that she could not find her grandmother's precious journal. She thought long and hard about where she could have misplaced it. A bulb lit up in her head and she snapped her fingers. She exclaimed, "The nature trail!"

The two thirteen-year olds rushed towards the trail where they had their nature walk with their fellow guides earlier. Surely enough, after combing the trail, they found the tattered book lying on the forest floor under a few freshly fallen leaves. As Laura cradled the precious book to her chest, she spotted something nearby glinting in the fading sunlight. Plagued by an insatiable curiosity, and started off in its direction with Katherine following close behind.

It turned out to be a small, rather beat up box, with scratches decorating the exterior. At the base of the metal box were the words "KRONOS TEMPUS", in glittering font. At the top of it was a glass panel with blinking red numbers that read: "19 12" and "2015". Katherine remembered "KRONOS" and "TEMPUS" both meant "Time" in Greek and Latin respectively.

"Who names a box 'Time-Time'?" Laura picked it up and they both held it tightly in their hands. Laura tested a button and suddenly they felt a pull in their guts. They disappeared from the forest and appeared on a spacious rocking wooden platform.

What they saw next was a man dressed in shabby clothes heading towards them and passing straight through them.

"I have never seen this place in Singapore before. And based on that man's clothes, I'd say we're not in 2015 anymore." Laura mentioned.

"So we've not only gone back in time, but we also don't physically exist? Fantastic!" Katherine said sarcastically.

Looking around a spacious main deck, they realized that they were on a ship at sea! They walked down the nearest staircase, the time machine lying forgotten on the floor, and found themselves in an opulently-decorated cabin.

Laura looked at a set of newspapers on top of the table with the headlines: "Raffles Signs Singapore Treaty on The Indiana Today!" Laura glanced at the date, 6th February 1819, which confirmed that she & Katherine definitely time-travelled and that box was a time-travelling machine.

Laura showed Katherine the newspaper. Before she could even respond, four men, later recognized as Raffles, Major William Farquhar, Sultan Hussein and the Temmengong, entered the cabin. As the girls were invisible, they stood up close, watching as Raffles signed the treaty with the other three men. They then shook hands, signifying the end of the ceremony.

The girls then realized that they should leave and try to find a way back, although they were still awed by the fact that they just witnessed the beginnings of their country.

The girls ran back to the deck in search of the Kronus Tempus. Luckily, they managed to find it lying on the floor near the mast. Laura started for the button, but Katherine stopped her, explaining they needed to log in the date and time, or they would end up somewhere else on the warped timeline. However Laura accidentally hit another button and they warped away.

They appeared in the middle of a crowd. Girls garbed in blue were clapping enthusiastically. In the midst of the clapping, Katherine told Laura to keep an eye on the machine. They turned towards the direction the girls were looking at and saw a banner. On the banner it said, 'Donation of Cavendish Shield, 22 February 1932.'

"Hey! What did you do?" Katherine asked.

"I didn't do anything! Let's just check the journal for the date."

They flipped through the journal and found the page with that date on it. Laura briefly scanned through and found that her grandmother was at the ceremony as a Guider and was to be presenting the Cavendish Shield alongside Mrs. Jean Cavendish to a Girl Guide.

Laura felt a tug on her shoulder and looked towards the direction Katherine was pointing too. They looked in awe at Laura's grandmother as she shook hands with the Girl Guide while presenting the shield together with Mrs. Cavendish. As the Girl Guide took the shield in hand, the confetti cannon went off. As a multitude of colours rained down on all the guides, their surroundings disappeared before their very eyes.

Laura and Katherine appeared in a dark, gloomy room. A table was in the middle of the space with two men seated on both sides. On one side sat the Japanese and the other the British. Both were staring at a sheet of paper on the table.

Katherine went over to look at the paper on the table and read the title: 'End of Japanese Occupation', dated 15 August 1945. Katherine pointed it out to Laura and they flipped through the journal for the date. The page had a newspaper clipping attached to it with the headline: 'Japanese Surrendered: We are Free'.

They looked up from the journal and saw the Japanese men stamping a red seal on the paper. Wordlessly, they stood with their heads bowed and left the room. The British followed, but were beaming with happiness. When they walked out, a crowd had gathered outside and everyone was cheering happily.

Anxiety disappeared from their faces and there was a sense of relief in the air. With the tension dropping, the noise started to fade, and the faces began to blur.

Laura and Katherine appeared in the middle of a throng of people. The air was buzzing with activity and life. People were on the streets, shouting happily in celebration. There were men on stage with old-version silver microphones crying and shouting in euphoric bursts of victory.

"...the clear and decisive verdict that was given by the people..." Finding the voice that boomed through speakers to be familiar, they jerked their heads towards the satin-red stage, and immediately recognized some of their founding fathers, including Lee Kuan Yew, and the late Dr Goh Keng Swee leading the celebration in tears.

"Negara Malaysia! Negara Malaysia!" The audience chorused.

The duo quickly referenced from the journal, only to discover that they were at the scene of Singapore and Malaya's merger, 2nd September, 1963.

Katherine exclaimed from behind Laura, "I've got it!" scaring her best friend in the process.

They quickly put together a theory that they were travelling closer and closer towards their time and that they would just have to go through history.

Just then, they felt that familiar pull of the time machine and they blinked, only to end up in a white, somber room. Lee Kuan Yew had his face in his hands and there was a deep wrinkle in between his eyebrows. 'For me, it is a moment of anguish. All my life, my adult life, I believed in merger and unity of the two territories." As tears began to run down his cheeks, the two were pulled away again, the image fading.

Laura and Katherine suddenly landed in the middle of a forest again. The red lights flickering on the Kronus Tempus read "14-11-15" and "20 03".

"Hey! We are back at camp at the very same moment we left!" Laura exclaimed.

"It's like we'd never left! We should go back before they realise we're missing." Katherine replied, "We should understand that we just relived Singapore's past and learned a great deal about the hardships of those times. We should be really glad that we live in the future and can bask in the fruits of our forefathers' incredible toll and perseverance. I think this is what your grandmother was trying to say. Celebrate our history and remember everything they suffered for us."

"That has to be it! I understand it fully now. Thank you so much." Laura said excitedly.

"You're welcome. And after all, a guide is useful and helps others!" Katherine said, grinning.

And with that, the two followed the flickering light of the campfire back to their friends, keeping the time-travelling secret to themselves and enjoying their time basking in the glow of a cheery fire.

-THE END-

Written by: (In order of paragraphs)

Catriona Teo

Annabelle Kiew

Sonia Quek

Taylor Wong


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